On its own, the handling of Fort Collins resident Harry Howard’s situation by the Boy Scouts of America is disconcerting enough to people familiar with the case. But in actuality, it is a drop in a bucket larger by a factor of thousands.

An Oregon Supreme Court order compelled the release of almost 2,000 detailed files the Boy Scouts kept on accused abusers, including Howard. They reach back as far as 1947.

The perversion files made public represent less than half of about 5,000 instances of suspected abuse in scouting exposed by the Los Angeles Times through records obtained under the court order and by culling lawsuits filed by a Seattle lawyer.

Of those, 13 were generated in Fort Collins and Loveland. Among them, only Howard’s file has been publicly released. Untold quantities of records have been destroyed, and the Boy Scouts continue to fight the release of the remaining files, currently being sought by a contingent of news outlets led by the Times.

Meanwhile, subjects of the local abuse files stand just beyond the reach of justice. The most recent documented perversion file from this area was generated in 2002, and remains largely cryptic. The Scout leader implicated in it and details of the abuse reported to regional and national Scouting offices are knotted in the legal wrestling match over whether further files will be released.

Larimer County District Attorney Larry Abrahamson said none of the local cases documented in the files are likely to result in new criminal charges against anyone because the 10-year statute of limitations on crimes against children is expiring even the most recent file.

Abrahamson expressed frustration that abuse could come to light after it is too late to hold perpetrators accountable. He was troubled to learn about the Boy Scouts’ silence that enabled Howard’s continued access to children and eventual sex offense against one of them during an era when Abrahamson was prosecuting crimes against children.

“That obviously is very concerning,” Abrahamson said. “When you have information that’s known and not dealt with, nobody can stop the activity from happening again. It’s very disturbing. They’re subjecting others to this type of abuse if it’s not stopped.”

(Page 2 of 2)

Despite his disgust, Abrahamson said Scout leaders in 1981 had no legal obligation to report suspected sexual abuse of children. Colorado’s mandatory reporting law that applies to many professions closely involved with children came into being in 1987.

Teachers, clergy, police, medical and psychological professionals and even firefighters are among those required by law to report suspected child abuse to police. Failure to do so could result in criminal charges.

“Boy Scout leader is not one that’s listed as a mandatory reporter,” even today, Abrahamson said.

Nonetheless, the Boy Scouts of America adopted a policy of mandatory reporting nine years ago, according to John Coleman Jr., Scout executive for the regional Longs Peak Council based in Greeley, which encompasses all of Northern Colorado and parts of Wyoming and Nebraska and where more than 11,000 Scouts reside.

“We’ve taken measures to reassure our parents that our youth protection policies and procedures are intact,” Coleman said. They include background checks and rigorous screenings of Scout leaders, a prohibition against one-on-one time between Scouts and leaders and thorough education of Scouts about behavior that constitutes abuse.

Scouting’s renaissance of reporting policies is a far cry from what it was when Warren Holm had Coleman’s job from 1969-86. Now 86 and living in a Greeley nursing home, Holm said he has no recollection of ever removing a Scout leader for suspected abuse, much less following the perversion file protocol, even though letters in his hand were plentiful in Howard’s file and many more like it that recently were made public.

“I don’t remember anything at all,” Holm said affably when confronted with letters he had signed in Howard’s file. “Nothing’s coming to me at all. I don’t remember signing that letter, but after all, I must have.”

Holm said he never contacted law enforcement about abuse by a Scout leader during all his years as the full-time executive of the large council.

Asked about the general topic of abuse in Scouting, both Holm and Howard’s wife, Juanita Howard, downplayed the unpleasantness as something polite society — and they in particular — would prefer to not discuss.

“I really hate all this that’s been in the newspapers,” Mrs. Howard said. “Can’t we just leave it alone?”

Holm lobbied for minimal attention to Howard’s case in the Coloradoan, saying he hoped it would be “something this big,” holding his thumb and index finger an inch apart, “hopefully on Page Umpteen.”

He said he was pained by the way the Boy Scouts were portrayed in the national television news report he saw about the release of the perversion files.

“I saw it on the news and said, ‘To hell with it,’ ” Holm said. “After all, that’s ancient history. I just turned off the TV and said to myself, ‘Heck!’ ”